Five things we have learned about the UK’s path to net zero

theguardian.com:

There are currently no credible plans to help the majority of households to improve their energy efficiency, the progress report from the Committee on Climate Change concludes: a gaping policy hole that is costing the UK dear, not just in climate terms but in unnecessarily high energy bills for our leaky homes. Insulating buildings would be the quickest and most effective way to counter soaring gas prices, but has been largely ignored by the government after the botched “green homes grant” was scrapped last year. Even our new homes are not efficient: at least 1.5m homes have been built in recent years that will require expensive retrofitting. “It’s a complete tale of woe,” said Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change.

“Surface transport has roared back,” after the lockdowns, according to Stark, with more people returning to their vehicles than boarding trains and buses. While some of these cars are now electric, not enough to make a real difference yet in emissions from transport – not helped by the increasing trend towards petrol-guzzling SUVs and the increasing size of even normal cars. Public transport strategy is also severely lacking, the report notes: “There has been only limited progress in encouraging a modal shift for transport and, most notably, no progress on addressing aviation demand and no action in response to our recommendation to assess airport capacity.”

Some of the most stinging criticism from the CCC is for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Farming and land use make up about 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the government has set what the CCC said were good targets for reducing them. But these targets have not been matched by policy, and